It's about time to show the world what it's like to be a short-haired dog. My alma mater against my nephew's alma mater. Don't think that I haven't been putting that bug in his ear since the schedule was released.

"Ultimately, you are not defined by your height, weight, or speed; you'll be defined by your heart, you'll be defined by your passion." Coach Mike Ayers

Been thinking since last year - KC was really only dude who could self create but more importantly was lockdown defender. As crazy as it sounds, think we're going to realize we underplayed his loss (which seems wild since everyone recognizes how important he was to the program).

You guys are right - the FT shooting and D is making this difficult to watch. MY will have something good for us after half though.

If we shoot 75% from the line, we are only down 4 or 5. Embarrassing. Collins is non-existent. Pegram looks pretty good and Magee looks great. Sawvell looks awful on D. Allen has no points. Not a good recipe.We have lost ALOT.

We know that Collins, Garcia and the other veterans CAN play. The freshmen are looking pretty good. We've heard that Magee can fill it up. Remember it is the first game and we have players who are getting their first taste of college basketball. We're not helpless, and will jell into a good team. KC was a fantastic on ball defender-could go straight up and block shots of guys 6-8" taller. Sure, we will miss that, but we have talent. By the way, Chatty knocked off Ga tonight. Tennessee just got by UNC-A. Lots of first game funny stuff. It's really early.

But the concern I had going into the season was interior scoring and interior defending. The ability for KC to defend on the perimeter so well (and garcia etc) helped prevent dribble penetration where a lot of interior scoring is done. Forced high entry passes so post game is away from basket and forced outside shots (forcing long rebounds which is good for an undersized program). Also helped spread the floor on O as people had to respect the outside game and our screen game which helped our penetration game and interior game.

Based on 30 minutes of basketball (wow that's ridiculous to even say) I can see both of those things being huge problems for us this year. Hopefully not.

Last edited by njterrier on Fri Nov 13, 2015 11:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Resetting the shot clock cost us a real shot at the game. Home cooking from the referees for sure- would've been a shot clock violation but instead Mizzou gets 2 FTs. Don't think we would've won but would certainly have been an interesting finish. Our defense has been terrible- Collins and Allen have not stepped up and our veterans have been shooting FTs at a poor rate. Garcia missing most of his FTs when fouled from 3 is unsettling. An ugly game to start the season.

Perspectives:-Poor FT Shooting (surprising!)Bench outscored by MO 42-26Inconsistent spacing & ball distribution+ Fletcher M. is a 3 pts threat when he steps on the courtJustin had a solid outing Competed to the endMatt P made 1st basket; did not seem lost/overwhelmed (be like Will)

OpportunitiesLots of good film; learn lots1st game jitters are out of the wayCollins, Allen, Garcia, Neumann will bounce backMarathon, not a sprintManage expectations vs. Heels